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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this teacher was over-reacting (I found it quite funny tbh)

96 replies

Ithinkitsjustme · 18/05/2012 16:38

OK, I do support teachers when kids have been playing up etc, but I got a phonecall from my DS1's (age 15) English teacher
Teacher -"there has been a serious incident in school today and I've called to tell you about it"

Me - (thinking) what's the little bugger done now

  • saying "Oh dear, what's happened?"

Teacher - "I have had to fill in a serious incident report that will remain on DS1's file for the remainder of the time he is in school and have had to report to the police"

Me - thinking f**
saying "that sounds bad, what has he done?"

Teacher - "he set off a cap during my lesson"

Me wtf??
"a cap?"

Teacher - "he set off a paper cap during the lesson"

Me serious incident, police, really??
"so he made a loud noise during your lesson with a paper cap"

Teacher "yes, this is a very serious incident, they are explosives"

Me explosives?? really?

Anyway this conversation went on for some time, me pointing out that there are actually more explosives in the crackers the kids pull at Christmas than in one paper cap, her adamant that this is extremely serious. Now, I have no problem with him being punished for distrupting the lesson, fair enough, but a serious incdent - involving explosives. Was she over-reacting or am IBU?

OP posts:
Floggingmolly · 18/05/2012 17:34

I've actually just noticed your user name, op. Yes, my dear, it is just you.

PerVagine · 18/05/2012 17:40

Personally, I'm all over the first of OPs post 'what's the little bugger done now?'

This tells you everything you need to know...

veritythebrave · 18/05/2012 17:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Birdsgottafly · 18/05/2012 17:41

I would say that the only think I disagree with the teacher on is the fact that the police were called - that wasn't necessary

It is LA/LEA policy. If the school didn't then they would be in breach of this and if things escalated and a pupil was injured they would be lacking in their duty of care.

It is the only way, in some areas to stamp out this behaviour. You have to fit it in with a law and that is the law that it comes under.

The new design of schools don't help because you have a lot of pupils in a cramped space, so tougher disipline is needed.

elinorbellowed · 18/05/2012 17:44

A few things.
He is 15. More than old enough to know better.
It's not over-reacting. In the current climate.
It's not funny. It's horrible. Loud bangs in a lesson. Disrupting the class, upsetting other pupils. What nastiness and disrespect. If he were my son, I would be grounding him, stopping pocket money and making him write a letter of apology to the teacher, not sniggering about it.

I'm an English teacher and while tough in a lot of ways (don't mind blood, spiders etc) I have a over-developed fight/flight reaction which means I really react to loud bangs. It is common in people that have lived in war zones. (I haven't!) In my previous school, in East London, where many children are refugees and many children are also exposed to gun crime, this would have been a very scary moment in a classroom. Actually, in my rural school, where a lot of farmer's kids are familiar with guns it would have been pretty scary too.
Of course they won't go to the police, but I don't see the harm in your son thinking they might.

beatenbyayellowteacup · 18/05/2012 17:46

OP have you ever tried to teach a class of adolescents and someone does something that creates a loud, sharp noise that is intended to disrupt...

But I'm concerned about the students with SEN/sound sensitivity who might have been there and found that particularly difficult to handle. Or students with anxiety etc.

Sorry, I'm usually all up for a bit of a lark and a laugh in the classroom but this does sound like your son is acting way out of order.

Mrsjay · 18/05/2012 17:48

we used to call them keps in scotland but i think the reporting to police was OTT what he did was really annoying and he deserved to get in trouble , but calling the police Really ?

hadagutsfull · 18/05/2012 17:53

OP - I have some sympathy with you - I would have been expecting something far more outrageous than setting off a cap if DS's teacher rang about a serious incident that warranted it being reported to the police. Unless caps have changed dramatically since I was a child (a very long time ago I know) the noise is not THAT loud to cause such outrage from some of the posters on here! Talk of 'what if the teacher had a heart condition' - get a grip FGS!

He should know better at 15, obviously, but I'm sure there are far more serious things going on in the school than that. However, as long as you're seen to be backing the teacher & not letting him know you think the overreaction is quite funny, in my eyes YANBU.

balia · 18/05/2012 17:53

If he was in year 7 I'd possibly think what a silly thing to do and explain why he shouldn't have had them in school, much less be setting them off.

BUT this boy is 15! Even if he isn't bothered, the other kids in the class will be trying to do last minute revision for their exams - there are a lot of modules etc on at the moment.

If someone had been setting off caps in my DD's lessons when she was that age I would not have been happy.

startail · 18/05/2012 17:54

The teacher is being ridiculous bringing the police into this.

Your DS is deserves to be in trouble for disrupting the lesson.

He'd have been better off with a party popper they are louder than a single cap.

My DSIS had a cap gun I didn'tEnvy
I soon found out you can set them off with a sharp stone or a compass point. They're great fun, I used to buy rolls with my sweet money and on the step setting them off.
(must have been 11ish as I wasn't allowed to cycle to the village until I done my cycling proficiency.)

DH says if you want a decently big bang you set off the whole roll at once by whacking them with a sledge hammer.
(not to be recommended, he couldn't hear for sometime afterwards.)

manicbmc · 18/05/2012 17:59

Why do I need to 'get a grip'? It's perfectly plausible. Plus the sound of a cap in a crowded small classroom is totally different to how it sounds outside. There's a time and a place.

It just displays a total lack of thought and respect for the teacher and the rest of the class.

5318008 · 18/05/2012 18:01

I would imagine that the teacher would have had to adhere to procedures

letting off an explosive on school premises would trigger a cascade of actions

YABU

stargirl1701 · 18/05/2012 18:09

Not really. How disrespectful and bloody annoying to set off caps during a lesson! I certainly would've called you too. Appalling behaviour.

hadagutsfull · 18/05/2012 18:10

manic I'm old enough to remember when desks had hinged, drop down lids and I'm sure the noise of a desk lid slamming down - as they did frequently - was as loud as a cap going off. We all - teachers and students alike - managed to survive.

WhereYouLeftIt · 18/05/2012 18:11

SugarBatty, look here for what caps are. When I was a kid they were all strip or roll caps. Think of a piece of paper with little raised dots, containing gunpowder. You don't need a gun to set them off, we used to just stamp on them with the edge of our heel - all they need is impact.

"Teacher - "I have had to fill in a serious incident report that will remain on DS1's file for the remainder of the time he is in school and have had to report to the police" "
Well, since he had both a banned item in school and disrupted a lesson, I think the serious incident report is merited. I'd question the having to report it to the police though. I'd have thought that would only happen if there had been a breaking of a law/bullying/offensive weapon. Is that how they're treating it, the caps are an offensive weapon (they could be used in that way, I suppose, but then so can a set of compasses).

JamieandTheMagicTorch · 18/05/2012 18:12

WhereYouLeftIt
striking website! Tasteful

donnie · 18/05/2012 18:13

yes, shite behaviour coupled with piss-poor attitude by OP. If you find it 'quite funny' that says a great deal about you.

manicbmc · 18/05/2012 18:13

Having heard both, I disagree. I'm also old enough to remember these things. And old enough to remember when setting off a cap in a lesson would have resulted in a good caning (not that I think caning is a good thing).

hadagutsfull · 18/05/2012 18:19

I don't think caning is a good thing either and I'm not against the school or OP taking disciplinary action because of the disruption, but I do think it's over the top to call it a 'serious incident' and report it to the police.

Hebiegebies · 18/05/2012 18:20

Poor teacher, not only was the lesson disrupted, teaching time lost, concentration lost, planning they had done wasted, they then gad to

Speak to your son about it

Report it to the Head

Report it to the Police

Spend a long time on the phone with you

Bet she really wanted to go home for a glass of wine rather discussing explosives

YABU

lockets · 18/05/2012 18:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

manicbmc · 18/05/2012 19:01

Reporting to police maybe a step too far but what if it's school policy?

ilovesooty · 18/05/2012 19:30

I'm also struggling to see why you would find this amusing.

QuacksForDoughnuts · 18/05/2012 20:49

YANBU to object to it being lumped in with terrorism. YABU to think it's an appropriate thing to do in a classroom. Even twenty years ago in Suffolk in a school full of farmers' children and others from rural areas it was unacceptable to have these things in class or set them off outside in the playground, let alone during a class. Even in primary school it was really obvious not to do that if you wanted to go home intact! I have no intrinsic objection to children learning how to handle 'dangerous' things safely and responsibly - I survived it after all - but that is not what your son was doing setting them off mid-lesson.

lecce · 18/05/2012 20:52

I'm an English teacher. You say your son is 15 - is he in Year 10 or 11? I saw my Year 11s for the last time before their exam this afternoon. I would have been livid if one of them had disrupted the lesson like that. As I say to any pupils I have to speak to about behaviour, you are being absolutely ridiculous if you think the teacher will have wanted to make this into more of an issue than it is - what a complete and utter waste of her time on a Friday afternoon in the exam season, having to piss her time away dealing with this and possibly knowing that the group's final lesson before their GCSE has been spoilt.

Yes, it's fucking hilarious Hmm

Oh, and pretty unlikely that she wil have 'called the police', there is probably an officer attached to the school and he will be asked to have a word with this child.

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